DROxINxTHExWIND:This is the result of a good marketing campaign, good lobbyist, and lazy healthcare professionals.

It's not lazy healthcare professionals. It's a patient population who expects and demands that anytime anything is less than perfect its doctor should just fix it. It's really no different than the article a couple of days ago about antibiotics. You could have a twenty minute discussion with a patient about abuse of antibiotics, the relative rarity of bacterial infections, other causes of cough and congestion, etc, and at the end the patient will respond "So, my cousin said I need Z-packs." Except in this case it's Xanax or Lexapro or whatever drug is buying ad space this week.

Sure they are overprescribed, but there is little choice in the matter. For many, therapy is the correct choice but that takes time, money, and is often considered shameful.

The only therapy I can get right now is run by incompetent and/or inexperienced people. I can only get in maybe once every two weeks and I'm limited to an hour. The people I need are well beyond what I can pay, and I doubt that if I ever get a job with benefits they'd pay. As well, it's really difficult for people to keep going to their doctors so often without jeopardizing their jobs. And as I said before, I really doubt I could openly tell people I'm going to a psychiatrist without them thinking I'm a crazed lunatic bent on killing everyone in the office.

Let's not forget we have a society that wants instant gratification above all else.

Stibium:Sure they are overprescribed, but there is little choice in the matter. For many, therapy is the correct choice but that takes time, money, and is often considered shameful.

The only therapy I can get right now is run by incompetent and/or inexperienced people. I can only get in maybe once every two weeks and I'm limited to an hour. The people I need are well beyond what I can pay, and I doubt that if I ever get a job with benefits they'd pay. As well, it's really difficult for people to keep going to their doctors so often without jeopardizing their jobs. And as I said before, I really doubt I could openly tell people I'm going to a psychiatrist without them thinking I'm a crazed lunatic bent on killing everyone in the office.

Let's not forget we have a society that wants instant gratification above all else.

/Because of all of those, I can't get the help I need.

Aside from the finances, if you dive into the article, you'll see another reason you probably have a hard time finding competent people to help you: The article states that in one study, of some 5,600 people who were diagnosed with depression, only 38.4% actually met the criteria for depression.

Think about a doctor's/therapists office that you need to visit but can't get into. If they're open 10 hours, They spend under 4 hours with people who actually need help, and waste the other 6 on people who need...attention? I don't know.

Before reading, I also have an inkling that besides care not being available, many depressed people don't even bother seeking help. It can't be an easy field to manage.